Kids lose 7 mins of sleep for every hour of television

A study by Harvard University and Project Viva suggests that children lose seven minutes of sleep for every hour of television that they watch.
Researchers who followed more than 1,800 children aged six months to nearly eight-years-old found a "small but consistent association" between increased television viewing and shorter sleep duration.

The study revealed that each hour of television viewing was associated with seven fewer minutes of sleep daily, with the effects appearing to be stronger in boys than in girls.
And children under eight-years-old who have a television in their bedroom are also less likely to get the right amount of sleep, which is bad for their physical and mental well-being.
Young children who had a television in their room lost an average of 30 minutes of sleep a night.
"Our study supports a negative influence of TV viewing and bedroom TV on children's sleep," said Matthew Gillman, principal investigator at Project Viva which is running a huge longitudinal study of women and children.
"Modest decreases in sleep duration could form lasting habits leading to substantial sleep deficits as children age."
The findings, published in the journal Paediatrics, are the first to examine the connection between television and sleep duration over several years.
There are several reasons why television may interrupt sleep patterns. The brightness of the screen can be stimulating enough to induce a “phase shift” which delays the onset of sleep by one cycle - between 90 and 110 minutes.
Sleep deprivation in children is linked to worse performance in school, along with depression, injury, and obesity, according to the authors.